Gerhard Rainer

In recent years, the increased significance and internationalisation of land tenancy and purchase has led to intensive scientific discussions. In so doing, a majority of the studies try to draw conclusions of the extent and relevance of the land rush by analysing macroeconomic data and structures. In our paper, we extend this analysis by applying an ethnographic, local-regional perspective. Argentina has experienced a strong neo-liberal phase in the 1990s; modernisation and particularly globalisation of agriculture has played a central role. The intensification of land use was coupled with new actor constellations, whereby land ownership and tenancy structures changed fundamentally. Embedded in this national context we contrast two production peripheries in the province of Salta: viticulture in the Andean Calchaquí Valleys and soy farming in the Chaco lowlands. In the context of the Chaco's soy production, the agrarian restructuring goes along with the appearance of actors following a short-term logic of capital accumulation (almost exclusively through tenancy-relationships). More often than not, so-called pooles de siembra (driven by financial capital) or national agro-actors use the Chaco Salteño as expansion territory and for risk diversification, fostering mono-functional land use. In contrast, actors of wine business in the Calchaquí Valleys follow predominantly long-term logics: Via land purchase and high-level investments in cultivation and irrigation quality wines are produced for a national and international niche market. Due to the association of wine with amenity quality and social status, a tourism and real estate boom has emerged, whereby the storing of and speculation with (surplus) capital is a crucial factor. Land becomes an attractive capital investment due to massively rising prices. The goal of our paper is to analyse and contrast land use changes in the respective study areas and, by doing so, we aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the current land rush/land grabbing in Latin America. Zusammenfassung In den letzten Jahren hat die zunehmende Bedeutung und Internationalisierung von Landpacht und-kauf zu intensiven wissenschaftlichen Diskussionen geführt. Ein Großteil der Studien versucht durch die Analyse von makroökonomischen Daten und Strukturen Schlüsse auf das Ausmaß und die Relevanz dieses land rush zu zie-hen. In unserem Beitrag erweitern wir diese Analyse um eine ethnographische lokal-regionale Perspektive. Ar-gentinien erlebte in den 1990er Jahren eine starke neoliberale Phase; die Modernisierung und Globalisierung der Landwirtschaft spielte dabei eine zentrale Rolle. Die Intensivierung der Landnutzung war mit neuen Ak-teurskonstellationen gekoppelt, wobei sich Landbesitz-und Eigentumsstrukturen grundlegend veränderten.

In the last years a growing body of geographical research has analyzed the relation between rural restructuring and commodity chain globalization. In this context, globalization is often treated as the 'given frame'. This critique is reflected in recent calls from distinct geographical subfields (mainly economic geography and rural geography) for more ethnographic studies examining the way actors negotiate and construct globalization in particular regions. The current paper addresses this call, analyzing wine production globalization in Salta's Calchaquí Valleys, a peripheral mountain region of the Argentine Andes. Wine is an agricultural commodity strongly affected by neoliberal de-/re-regulation processes. However, compared to other agricultural products, globalization-related regional restructuring in wine regions has received relatively little attention from geographers. In Argentina, wine industry globalization started with the 1990s neoliberal reforms and has fundamentally transformed a relatively uniform production system supplying the national market. In order to shift towards supplying a global niche market with higher priced wines, the industry has placed a strong emphasis on improving wine quality. Quality wine is distinct from other agricultural commodities as it is a highly globalized product marketed mainly on the basis of terroir – local particularity and distinctiveness. As such, the paper argues that new insights into broader globalization dynamics can be gained through an analysis of regional engagement with the globalized wine industry. Building on long-term ethnographic fieldwork the paper traces the restructuring of Salta's Calchaquí Valleys into 'the world's highest wine region'. The results indicate that local particularity in the form of high-altitude wine is actually a product of globalization. Not only transnational beverage companies, but also traditional local capital, renowned flying winemakers, wine production connected with cultural capital, social status and lifestyle, as well as the associated tourism and leisure boom all play a crucial role in the regional transformation process. Zusammenfassung: Die Geographie hat sich in den letzten Jahren immer stärker mit dem Verhältnis zwischen sich globa-lisierenden Wertschöpfungsketten und ländlicher Umstrukturierung auseinandergesetzt. Zu oft wird Globalisierung dabei einfach als ‚gegebene Rahmenbedingung' angesehen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde aus unterschiedlichen geographischen Teildisziplinen (vor allem aus der Wirtschaftsgeographie und Geographie des ländlichen Raumes) die Forderung nach einer stärker ethnographisch orientierten Beschäftigung mit der Art und Weise, wie unterschiedliche Akteure Globalisierung in bestimmten Regionen verhandeln, und eben konstruieren, laut. Der vorliegende Artikel greift diese Forderung auf und ana-lysiert die Globalisierung des Weinsektors in Saltas Calchaquí Tälern, einer peripheren Gebirgsregion in den argentinischen Anden. Wein ist eine der am stärksten von neoliberalen De-/Re-Regulierungsprozessen betroffenen agrarischen commodities. Im Vergleich zu anderen landwirtschaftlichen Produkten wurde der globalisierungsbedingten regionalen Umstrukturie-rung von Weinregionen jedoch bisher relativ wenig Aufmerksamkeit in der Geographie geschenkt. In Argentinien beginnt die Globalisierung des Weinsektors mit der neoliberalen Wirtschaftsausrichtung der 1990er Jahre und veränderte einen vormals relativ homogenen und auf den nationalen Markt ausgerichteten Wirtschaftszweig grundlegend. Zentraler Aspekt ist dabei eine zunehmende Qualitätsorientierung, um einen globalen Nischenmarkt mit höherpreisigen Weinen bedienen zu können. Qualitätswein unterscheidet sich von anderen agrarischen commodities, da es sich um ein stark globalisiertes Produkt handelt, das gleichzeitig auf der Basis von terroir – regionaler Besonderheit/Einzigartigkeit – vermarktet wird. Vor diesem Hintergrund argumentiert der Artikel, dass aus einer Analyse der regionalen Einbettung in die globalisierte Wein-industrie neue Einsichten in die Dynamik von Globalisierungsprozessen gewonnen werden können. Aufbauend auf einer langen ethnographischen Feldarbeit zeichnet der Aufsatz die Umstrukturierung von Saltas Calchaquí Tälern zur 'höchsten Weinregion der Welt' nach. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass lokale Besonderheit in der Form von " Höhenwein " ein Produkt von Globalisierungsprozessen ist. Sowohl große transnationale Getränkekonzerne als auch (traditionelles) lokales Kapital, renommierte flying winemakers, individuelles Streben nach kulturellem Kapital und sozialem Status sowie ein (damit verbun-dener) Boom der Tourismus-und Freizeitnutzung spielen dabei eine zentrale Rolle.

El propósito de este artículo es analizar desde la óptica de la ecología política la transformación actual de la región productora de vino de los Valles Calchaquíes (Salta) en un lugar turístico y de ocio. Este boom del turismo ha modificado profundamente a los Valles Calchaquíes y sobre todo al centro vitivinícola de la región; la ciudad de Cafayate (hoy día aproximadamente 15.000 habitantes). Aquí se considera que esta reestructuración es fundamentalmente un proceso socio-ecológico; se ha modificado la manera en la que se presenta, promociona y político-económicamente produce a la naturaleza.

This study contributes to a growing body of literature examining tourism and amenity-led residential
development in an emerging global countryside. It does so by analyzing the public-private efforts to
nationally and globally position the Salta Wine Region as a premier tourism and leisure destination. A
marketing effort highlighting the exceptional natural setting coupled with high-quality viticulture
effectively seeks to reposition a peripheral Andean valley as ‘the world's highest wine route’. Enabled by
neoliberal policies, a variety of actors such as national and international wineries, real estate developers
and hotel companies have produced new spaces for leisurely consumption. This paper analyzes the
discursive and material restructuring of societyenature relations through a political ecology lens.
Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork it provides a grounded, micro-political account of the way
in which distinct actors engage in and experience tourism and amenity-led development. Findings show
that the current boom benefits the land-holding elite and new investors while escalating costs of living
and unequal access to resources have deepened historically inherited socio-ecological inequalities. In
contrast to findings from places in the Global North that have experienced a similar tourism and amenity
boom, conflicts over landscape aesthetics and environmental protection are virtually absent in the study
area. Socio-ecological conflicts concentrate on access to resources, affordable living, and livelihood
improvement. Despite an increasing importance of tourism, amenity migration and related speculative
investment in the Global South, studies have primarily focused on the Global North. Given the uneven
geographies that such developments produce, augmenting the broader literature on tourism and
amenity-led rural restructuring with a political ecology perspective comes at a timely moment.

La adquisición de casas con fines recreativos y de estilo de vida ha aumentado
significativamente en las regiones montañosas de la Argentina. El presente
artículo analiza los orígenes y las consecuencias de esta economía residencialrecreacional
para el caso de los Valles Calchaquíes. Ya que el proceso se enmarca
en una tendencia global de un boom de migración de amenidad/migración de
estilo de vida, se introducen los respectivos conceptos con especial enfoque
en su discusión en el contexto latinoamericano. En seguida se elabora una
categorización de migrantes de amenidad que sirve para diferenciar entre
éstos y con eso elaborar particularidades nacionales y regionales del proceso.
Los resultados indican que la ‘búsqueda de lo rural’ conlleva a una creciente
fragmentación socio-espacial en los Valles Calchaquíes.

Argentina is a country that has represented itself over centuries as white and European. Over the last decades,
however, indigenous movements have increased strongly in visibility and importance. This investigation considers
this background in analysing the complex relationship between the growing importance of tourism and
indigenous politics for self-determination and autonomy in the Andean village of Amaicha (NW-Argentina). The
annual Pachamama celebration held by the indigenous Amaicha community presents the ideal setting for this
research as it has simultaneously become a ‘national tourist festivity’ in the context of recent government efforts
to promote a culturally diverse Argentina for tourism development. Through long-term ethnographic field work
and by applying a methodological framework that combines the interpretation of visual material with careful
empirical research this study presents a differentiated analysis of the political implications of indigenous tourism.
The findings show that conflicts between the indigenous community and governmental institutions tend not
to be about tourism and place promotion as such, but rather tourism has become a central arena where struggles
over political control are manifested and mediated. Furthermore, cultural politics in Amaicha have recently been
reassembled through both embodied practices and the use of cultural symbols during the Pachamama festivity.
Finally, while relational conceptualisations of place as constituted through wider connections have gained
momentum in academia, the results from this investigation show that an essentialised understanding of culture
and identity as rooted in place is promoted for tourism, and emphasised by the indigenous community in order
to legitimise claims for territorial and political rights. The goal of the paper is thus to contribute to a nuanced
picture of emergent indigenous geographies in Argentina.

La globalización del espacio rural se produce cada vez más a través de un boom de amenidades. En Cafayate la migración de amenidad se despliega mediante la reproducción de urbanizaciones cerradas en tanto éstas proponen una nueva particularidad: un vínculo estrecho con la producción vitivinícola. El paisaje de montaña cubierto de viñedos y la vitivinicultura de altura son utilizados por desarrolladores inmobiliarios para atraer clientes nacionales e internacionales en búsqueda de los mejores destinos tanto para el ocio como para realizar inversiones económicas. El artículo analiza las causas y consecuencias de este boom de amenidades y sus impactos a nivel local.